Crude Realities

Strip out the things that have been going up in price, and all those worries about inflation heating up suddenly fall by the wayside.

Alas, economists can't reasonably do that -- though they may try -- and so have recently been forced to pay more attention than usual to oil's effect on prices. The economic basis for economists' tendency to look past moves in oil prices is well grounded. Unlike many other goods, consumers and businesses can't suddenly decide, when tight supplies drive prices higher, to fill the tank with...